


Friends of the Fourth Kind

by JoJo419



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Author Loves Comments, Family Feels, Fluff, Multi, Occasional angst, Original Lore used, Polyamory, Reader Insert, Reader has backstory, Reverse Harem, i guess?, in the future though, not right at the start - Freeform, reader has magic, reader is a fairy, will add tags as needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-02-22 21:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23833990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoJo419/pseuds/JoJo419
Summary: For years it was believed there had only ever been three species upon the Earth: The Monsters, the humans, and the Mages. Unknown to all, except for a story or two, there was a fourth species. One that could experience all three of these worlds and dance between them. They are called the Fair Folk, now shortened...to fairies.You’ve known Frisk since the beginning. They had found you at the start of the adventure, desperately trying to get excess magic from being near monsters to regain your own magic and regrow your wings. After guiding them through the Underground and back to the Surface, you both were strong friends - which led to you staying with them, hidden from Toriel with Frisk.That plan went sideways, so Frisk helped you sneak into the home of two skeletons. Now you just had to wait out the healing process, and you’d be home free...Why is there suddenly six skeletons?(This is a reader insert fanfic. The reader is a fairy, and is currently stuck in her tiny form. These are her shenanigans with the skeleton brothers of Undertale, Underfell, and Underswap. More AU’s may be added at later dates. I hope you enjoy. 😊)
Relationships: Papyrus/Reader, Reader and Frisk are BESTIES, Sans/Reader, Sans/Reader/Papyrus
Comments: 341
Kudos: 507





	1. Shocking Start

You could get used to this. 

It’s been a pleasant week. The most calm week you have had since, hehe, moving in with your new roommates. It felt like only yesterday your bud Frisk had let you in on their plan. 

See, apparently Toriel had wisened up to you being in her home. You’d started noticing her leaving food out more often, or making certain to announce which room she was going to - which considering it was only her and Frisk made no sense at all.   
Normally you would have loved to stick around. Most don’t care for tiny friends who can typically help out, and cared even less for ones that literally could not help out with how they are. Though...the fact that she was on to you two made you nervous as all hell, and no matter how much Frisk insisted their loving goat mom would welcome you with open arms...you weren’t buying it. 

So they helped you sneak into the skeleton brothers house. It’s great! They have yet to notice you at all, they got windows aplenty open so you can get that sweet, sweet nature energy you need whenever, and the best part…  
Access to sugar. HUMAN sugar. They have this pet rock, and the tall brother Papyrus feeds it sprinkles.   
You and Rocky are basically besties now. He shares his lunch with you. Like you said, awesome. 

Granted, it was often really loud which could get ugly, you’re still freaking out over every noise and every sudden move and every time you think your paranoia is finally correct it sets your heart beating fasterfasterfaster—

...Let’s skip that for now. 

Lately, though, Sans and Papyrus haven’t been home as much. You figured Papyrus was with that friend of his, Undyne, but Sans was still a mystery to you. He was typically home, working on his laptop - you think he’s working but honestly, same if not - with some science documentary in the background which you’d get to watch from upstairs. You’d found a GREAT hiding spot to spy on the living room, into the dining room, and you could grapple down into the kitchen from it, so you’ve come to enjoy your movie marathons with Sans.   
Even if he doesn’t know you're there. Which sounds...so much creepier than it should. Not your fault you can’t go say hello. 

Wait...it technically might be...eh, no time for technicalities now, your movie partner is missing! He’s been hiding out in the basement all week, and the house has been so quiet all week, and you hate it now! You still go outside, you still swipe food when hungry, so not much has changed really but it’s not fair! You...you missed them. You’d gotten attached, which was **dangerous** but felt so good to have friends again. Sure, Frisk is a friend, but they’re like twelve. Maybe fifteen. Humans age weird you might have to ask them later or something. 

You’re standing at the edge of the stairs, looking down into the dark abyss with hands on your hips. You had no idea of what down there could possibly be keeping Sans from the important science documentaries playing, but whatever it was you would free him from it’s probably terrible grasp. 

That and you think a Doctor Who marathon is coming on soon. This was urgent!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It takes you way longer than you’d like to admit getting down the stairs. Like, you probably could have knitted a scarf the size of the Hudson River - to you, at least - in the time it takes you. Whatever, you’re here now…

And you're armed! Your valiant quest to help provided you with a pin on the way, and it was a pointy one. You're pretty sure you can cut something with it if you try, so that’s always good to have on hand. Cutting rope and picking locks are great survival skills to have that are always useful. 

Blue sparks get your attention up ahead, and you quickly run over towards them. Sticking to the shadows is easy, boxes of all sorts casting them on the walls enough for you to feel safer than normal. If it wasn’t for the strong smell of metal, you might consider moving down here rather than the drawer in a guest bedroom you’ve been shacking up in. Looking out into the room, you grin wildly.   
There he is! Sans! You recognize that blue magic anywhere! Just the feeling of it in the air makes the mild pain in your back ease up, and you don’t stop the sigh that slips away from you. You doubt he’d hear you anyways, all the noise that metal thing in front of him is making. 

You actually frown at it. _This_ is what stole his attention away? A stupid metal closet thing? It looked...broken. Really broken. Maybe that’s why he likes it, he wants to fix it since that’s his thing. Papyrus makes puzzles, and Sans fixes them. Thinking for a moment, you smile before ducking and dodging your way behind the machine. The side facing away from Sams has some open wires, and it’s exactly the opening you need.   
It’s a costly maneuver, but you call on the chaos in your SOUL tied with what little magic you have gained, and you focus on the wires. With enough force...everything will be fixed...and everything will be normal again...and it’ll all turn out juuuust —-

**B A N G**

...fine. Smoke in the air, the blistering smell of burning metal in your lungs, you force yourself to teleport upstairs. It’s a painful jump, and your body is screeching death threats at you when you make it into the kitchen with a wobble in your step. It takes a minute before everything goes black, and you don’t even process the sound of new voices before you’re out cold. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s late. It’s really late. You wake up, cold tiles acting as your bed and the refrigerator humming a lullaby to you. At least past you had been smart enough to drag your hurting body back here before you passed out, so you couldn’t have been seen and stuck and _nononodon’tgobackthere_ —-

You shake your head, no time. No time when you had to get back to your den. You needed sleep, and some of the blueberries you’d stashed away. Berries always made you feel better, even if you wanted some cream too...blueberries and cream...oh, you’d been spoiled by staying with Frisk, but hey everybody’s got a weakness. 

Getting to your feet is a bit of a struggle, but you make it and start your trek back to the room you’ve been in. While the house was well built, during your first week here you had figured out a sort of tunnel system in the walls you could use to get wherever you wanted unspotted. It’s been seriously helpful, especially on the odd nights when Sans wouldn’t go to bed. 

Your guess on it being late is proven right when you get a nice look outside. It had been noon when you went downstairs, but now night has overtaken the sun and the stars dance in the sky for victory. You would have stayed and admired the sight - especially with nobody around - but you were still so tired. You would need the rest to recover the magic you used up, and to help heal.   
Today was proving itself to be an utter stressful nightmare. Hopefully it doesn’t get any worse than this. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You climb out of the hole in the wall with a small smile. Finally, back to your home. The room looked a bit different than before, but chances are Papyrus wanted to clean when he got home earlier so it’s probably just the aftermath of that. He seems to do that when he wants to stay busy, that or puzzles. It was always fun watching him, and on occasion mess with him a little. Nothing cruel, just the occasional suddenly missing action figure found in a different room or a puzzle being solved before he gets Sans to come check it out.   
You’d rather not admit how much fun you had doing this. It’s safer that way. 

You’ve scaled up the dresser before it hits you why things are different. Why the room seems so changed, so much more wrong than when you left this morning. It hadn’t been cleaned at all - it was messy! Like, typical Sans clutter you’ve seen from his bedroom. Not that you ever went inside, but you caught glances in.   
Plus, something is moving. It’s curled up in the bed, and buried under the covers to where you can’t tell which way it’s facing. Judging by the slow movements up and down, you had to guess it...they? Yeah that’s probably a person. They were fast asleep. That was concerning. Even when the brothers had friends over, nobody ever stayed in this room. Ok, sometimes Frisk did but they didn’t stay over long enough to count - normally a day at most, never overnight. Overnight would lead to relaxed conversations and comfy feelings, which meant lowered guard and distracted senses. 

...Stars, you missed that kid. Once you were up and able, you’d fly over and stick around a bit. Just a while before moving on. Can’t stay in one place that long.   
A loud snore, and you jump before lying flat on your stomach. You stay low, before moving at a slow pace towards your drawer at a crawl. You manage to get into it, thankful for the silence that follows once your inside. Holes you’ve poked out the back keeps fresh air coming in, and the thick wood muffles your new roommates snoring. You head towards the back, and you can’t bite back a whine. 

Dangit, they threw out the blueberries! You didn’t keep much back here, not enough to cause concern, but you’d hoped nobody would look close enough to find those.   
Still a bit hungry, but not much to be done about it now, you settle down for the night. After all, with an apparent guest over, the boys would be distracted in the morning. Distracted mornings means more time for you to raid for supplies. 

Before you drift off, you notice a final difference… _why did everything smell like smoke and honey now?_


	2. Good Morning! Who Are You?

A deep breath in, and a soft sigh as you stretch out. Man, mornings were the _best_ here. It was warm in the drawer, and that nice wood smell sticks out so strongly you felt like you were back to sleeping in a cabin or camping under the stars. You wonder if Sans would notice if any of the glow in the dark stars on his ceiling suddenly went missing, and totally by accident show up in your drawer. 

You take another deep breath in, and stretch out as much as you can. A distinct pop can be heard, and you relax before finally getting up. Thanks to your missing wings, you’ve had to start stretching a lot more than normal. Especially your back as it adjusts and begins to regrow the missing limbs. It was going to be a long, painful process but proper eating habits and careful stretching will make things so much easier. 

By proper eating, you mean whatever sugary concoction Papyrus was making this morning. For a guy who is a bit of a health nut, which you understand and completely respect even if it’s super confusing as he is a literal _skeleton_ , he has the habit of going to TOWN with awesome sweet breakfast foods. You’re talking waffles with syrup, whipped cream, and chocolate. Papyrus knows how it’s done, and you can appreciate a man with a love for sugar in the morning.  
And in the afternoon.  
And at night. 

...Sugar is an all time food. It’s hard having a fairy metabolism. Yet so much fun.

You’re heading out towards the front of the drawer, pushing against it and the dresser to open it up just enough to slip out. Poking your head out, you see your sleeping roommate is still snoring away. Sans must’ve said “Screw it” and decided to crash with you last night. It’s kind of funny, the whole mess with that machine must have worn him down. You did feel kind of bad about it…

A knock at the door has you scurrying up and away like a damn RAT. You’re near the hole in the wall when you finally freeze and watch. Who knocks on a bedroom door, when there’s only two people in the house?? It’s probably just Papyrus any—

“Papy, are you awake yet?! The other versions of us are already downstairs!” In walks in someone who, quite frankly, damn near breaks your brain. He’s a skeleton, which is the typical around here, but what he’s wearing is what throws you.  
He’s wearing something similar to Papyrus’s battlebody, right down to the cute boots and adorable cape! Granted, his cape was more like a blue bandana but seriously this skeleton was small enough it could be a cape. You notice his eyelights look like stars, and it would make you smile if only you knew who he was and where the **HELL** he came from. He wasn’t living here before! It was just Sans and Papyrus! They’re the only skeletons in the Underground where did THIS DUDE come from??

...Did he say Papy?

The one in the bed groans.  
“I’m up, I’m up Sans.” Up out of the bed rises A N O T H E R skeleton. Did-Did he just call that energetic blueberry SANS?! Oh, holy shit you got your magic back and just entered the Twilight Zone didn’t you? Maybe… _did you hit another mouse trap?_ Is that it? Maybe you’re dying already and your brain decided to pull a fast one on you to keep adrenaline up. Like when you think you’re falling off a cliff when you go to sleep. 

You haven’t had enough to eat to figure this out. You just woke up, and to this, so you deserve something good. You hope Papyrus — YOUR Papyrus — really is making breakfast this morning. Shaking your head at the odd scene, you slip into the hole and start your morning walk. 

You’re totally gonna steal a whole ass pancake for this nonsense.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, it’s certainly Papyrus cooking. At least, you think that’s Papyrus cooking. If Papyrus decided he wanted to do a cosplay as some super villain in an apocalyptic movie, if all that red fabric and leather clothes was anything to go by. Plus the sharpened teeth...and a huge scar going across one eyesocket that has you shuddering. Really, that HAD to hurt to get!

This Papyrus — _there’s actually three of them now isn’t there you’re gonna lose your SHIT_ — was fending off your Papyrus’s attempts at helping in the kitchen. Paps kept being polite as can be, and tall dark stranger kept insisting he knew what he was doing. You think he’s making something with eggs and...are those peppers on the counter? Damn, you might be skipping what’s on the menu to scavenge on your own. Sweet foods are great for you, and while you did enjoy that occasional bite of heat it would through your healing magic off. Your magic would focus on fighting that spice instead of other, more important things. 

You start climbing up to the kitchen counter, only to duck behind the coffee pot when Darkyrus — ok that’s a GOOD ONE — looks in your direction with a sharp turn. Thank the stars the pot is full, otherwise that could have been a close call. Being honest, though, the heat of the coffee felt nice this close, and the smell…

“EDGE PLEASE I AM INSISTING YOU LET ME HELP COOK!” Oh, Paps sounds frantic. This...can’t go well. At all. “WHILE WE ARE **BOTH** QUITE GREAT YOU CANNOT PUT THAT MANY PEPPERS SAFELY INTO AN OMELETTE!”

You were very grateful you chose to skip today. Facts were facts, and you didn’t feel like playing pepper roulette with which omelette you’d swipe from. Plus you honestly haven’t heard Papyrus that loud since he first got up on the surface. Back in the Underground sure, but once he started learning more about humans he got a lot more careful with the whole yelling thing. Another thing you were grateful for, loud noises were horrible…

“I **KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!** We may share names, but clearly I am the better cook here!” Edge, which maybe is his nickname, shouts back and...you actually freeze a bit. Did he actually just say that? To Papyrus? Oh, hell no. Wings or not, you're a fairy bitch. 

And everybody knows what fairy bitches like to do to rude people…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You’re sitting up in your usual perch, munching on a couple of strawberries you got from the fridge. Thankfully, in all the cooking concern, someone had left the fridge open a bit so you helped yourself and snatched up some goodies for the morning. A few strawberries, a single happy blueberry...and poppy seeds. Stars, these little things are good. You could pop them like peanuts and when they’re in muffins, oh you almost didn’t care about the risk to get them. 

Almost. It payed off this time, though, so that’s nice.

The dining table was set up with six plates, which helped you do roll call in your head. Two would be for Papyrus and Edge, another two for the Sans upstairs and the snoring one called Papy, of course one plate was for your Sans...so who was the last one? If Frisk came over, they would have taken the room they know you’re in. 

...Oh stars. Oh stars, NO. NO NO NO PLEASE NO.  
**DARKYRUS DID NOT HAVE A—**

A skeleton dressed in a leather jacket and all red saunters in, right alongside your good science friend Sans. You could cry. You could DIE. A part of you does, inside. They seemed close, like they had some sort of secret between them to enjoy and snicker at others who didn’t know. While it might have been more on your end than Sans, you honestly felt a bit replaced. Just because he doesn’t know you’re there doesn’t mean you aren’t his friend! He should totally tell you the secret, or just mention it so you’d know since you’re always around…

Holy shit maybe this was kind of stalkerish. It might be time to start distancing yourself again. More time in the books, less time with the nice skeletons whom you’ve come to —  
_NOPE YOU ARE GOING TO HIT THE BREAKS RIGHT THERE_

Shaking your head, you decide instead to spend your precious focus on watching the schemers. They’ve sat down at the table, and with no background noise you can hear them pretty clearly. 

“So ya really think that’s what happened here? I knew somethin’ was up with the machine, just...didn’t worry about it that much. Had other concerns…” Red — because you’re such a nickname kind of person — mutters out to Sans, and he’s scowling with a shake of his head, “How’d you figure it out…?”

“Honestly, pal, I didn’t.” Sans shrugs at him, a lazy wink thrown in for good measure, “I was just trying to fix it up, nothing more. Probably would’ve just given it to Alphys afterwards. After a week of progress, outta nowhere the thing starts sparking up and turns on! Never got that sort of reaction for so I ducked, and when it was all over you four were there. Still not sure how it turned on at all, I didn’t put any magic into it…” Sans had that look of bewilderment you’ve seen in movies, often from an old man saying the strange event was the ‘darnest thing they ever did see’.

You can feel your sins crawling on your back.  
If you had only not gotten involved...DAMN IT. You went and got MORE roommates when you just wanted the ONE back. That’s it! You are never going to get involved with absolutely anything in this household, ever again. No more peeking, no more listening in, and no more pranks! None whatsoever, for your own safety and sanity.

Papyrus and Edge walk out of the kitchen, and you eagerly scooch a bit forward to see what happens next. They’re putting food out for everyone, and you’re watching Edge so closely you miss Papy and other Sans join the rest of the group. Papyrus actually perks up at seeing them. 

“Ah, Blue! Swap! How did you two sleep?” Ah, sweet, even toned Papyrus. Clearly the kitchen troubles had ended after you left. He sure had a set of lungs on...oh. Right.

“We slept just fine! It was almost like a big sleepover, right Papy?” Blue sure was a sugary one. He was all energy and bounce, which with him looking like Sans made you mentally lose it. Like, oh wow, this was such an Opposite Day thing you really should take a look outside and make sure this wasn’t some Twilight Zone. You take a glance at your blueberry, and then look back to the skeletons. Yeah, actually...Blue is a nice nickname for him. 

“Slept pretty well on my end. You could say I was, bone tired.” Three laughing voices, and three groans of despair. With a grin, you realize you’re going to like your new bunkmate. Smells like honey and smoke, slept soundly enough for you to move about and not wake him up, and finally...GREAT sense of humor! What a wonderful guy. 

“Heh, well sit down with the rest of us. We’ve, well, we’ve got some things to discuss.” As always Sans was keeping a calm demeanor. While you knew he was laid back, you remember plenty of moments where he proved to be a great talker. Surely he would have a plan to fix all of this, and then things will go right back to normal. Good job, Sansy!

Everyone’s seated before he starts, and Red’s already digging in. You don’t blame him, food is food and never to be wasted. Not even with company.  
“So...to be clear, while there’s some working theories on what’s happened it’s still up in the air how. As for what’s happened, it’s complicated but easily summed up. You four are, well, you’re us.” Sans let’s that sink in — and you shoot a quick glance at Edge because _what do you mean THAT'S PAPYRUS_ — before he continues, “Well, you’re all us from other dimensions. Other timelines of sorts.”

After some subtle agreement, and mild surprise from Papyrus and Blue, Sans moves on.  
“Right now the best we can do, is keep this quiet and work to fix it. I can keep trying to fix the machine but that’ll take a while, so for now it’ll be best if you all stay here.”  
Boy, does THAT get the rough and rowdy crowd worked up!

“Absolutely not! We don’t need damn charity, we can survive just fine on our own!” Edge argues, and he’s looking pissed. A small bit of sympathy actually hits you. He seems tough, but...you had a feeling it wasn’t quite real. He’s another Papyrus, and you know your Papyrus. What did his world do to him…? Still, he DID yell at your Papyrus so...eh, he’d regret that in a minute. 

The argument lasts for a good few minutes, mainly between Edge and Sans who was doing his best to just keep the peace. You zone out for a bit, just to enjoy your own breakfast as you had a good feeling Sans would win. He’s a clever man, he can handle himself. You snap out of your berry enjoyment by a startled shriek.  
Edge is _glaring_ at his omelette like it personally insulted his own family. He’s clearly taken a bite out of it, and you’re grinning away. 

“Boss? Everything alright?” Red seems concerned, and the others just seem startled by the noise. You were too, that was quite a noise he let out. 

“WHO THE **FUCK** PUT SUGAR IN THE OMELETTES?!”

You cackle away, oh stars his FACE! It had been a worthy sacrifice of delicious sugar to pour it into the mix. It’d been hard to pull off, but you figured if Edge likes spicy you’d give him a bite of something else. You see the other skeletons quickly take bites out of their food, and it just makes you laugh even harder when they have clearly confused faces. 

“Erm, Edge? I think you’re the only one who got sugar in yours…” Swap says, and you can see him fighting to not laugh at this. 

You’ve never heard a better, more agitated scream in your life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please remember to comment if you enjoy the fic!


	3. Help With Chores

You regret everything. You should have never, ever, ever went down into the basement and tried to help Sans. That was the worst choice ever and you have been paying for your crimes. You’ve been paying for them for the past few days and you were at wits end. 

With the sudden inclusion of four housemates, your typical pattern has been thrown off rhythm. You used to have a calm life, if a bit worrying to avoid Sans’s occasional sleepless night but now. NOW…  
You had to remember that Blue wakes up even EARLIER than Papyrus. Red goes to bed a hell of a lot later than Sans. Swap has been staying home to help Sans and Red fix up that machine — which you’ve been avoiding with a strong sense of prejudice — but he also likes to walk around the house. He’s a pacer when he thinks, so it’s hard to avoid when you move around during the day. 

You’d hang out in the garden, but SHOCKER! Edge has been keeping the windows closed and locked tight. Apparently he doesn’t like the whole easy entrance thing that usually lets you slip in and out of the house whenever you want with nobody noticing.   
...Shit maybe he is onto something there. Oh, and if all that wasn’t enough, someone was always going up and down the stairs. You can’t even hang out at your usual perch and watch the documentaries Sans leaves running! Normally, it was Papyrus trying to keep things running in tip top shape though so...you can understand him. He’s actually been working really, really hard lately. Even more than usual. 

Like right now, you could see him working on laundry. He’s been so nice, not complaining about the extra stuff to do now that there’s more people living here. Sure, Blue helps out willingly and seems to enjoy it as well, plus on the occasion Edge helps out but he grumbles about it which is funny. He’s still trying to figure out who dumped sugar in his omelette. Seems Red is getting the heat for that at the moment, oops. 

Still, even with the extra help you could tell Papyrus was working hard enough that it was starting to wear on him a bit. He hasn’t gone and trained with Undyne in a while, and truth be told you knew it wasn’t real training. It was those two attempting recipes and enjoying fun anime with good company. It’s his way to relax while also being the Great Papyrus, and he seems so happy when he gets home from that!  
Thanks to chores, though, he hasn’t been able to go off and hang out — excuse you, you mean go train to be an awesome member of the royal guard. 

Sure, you said you weren’t going to get involved anymore after messing with Edge’s omelettes but…  
This totally doesn’t count. No one would ever know you got involved. Ever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First was laundry. More specifically, gathering up the laundry. Papyrus had already started to work on getting anything downstairs which left you open to work upstairs, since the nerds were in the basement with that stupid metal box. Seriously, they could find something soooo much better to work on, but nope. Still messing with that!

You start with Swap’s room. While he was just as messy as Sans and Red, he had the most complicated clothing for you to move. A huge, comfy orange hoodie. Quite a few of them, actually. You were impressed with how many orange hoodies he had, and the fact that they smelled strongly of smoke and oil lately.   
It’s kind of nice…

The size is the issue you had to tackle though. You could honestly pitch a tent and use some as a makeshift bed with how big his hoodies are compared to you. The pockets alone you could curl up in and ride around if you wanted ~~but that’s BAD you can’t do that getting close is UNSAFE~~ but that’s not why you’re here. 

You step out into the room, and grab the first hoodie by the...well, by the hood. Hoisting it up and wrapping a bit around you like a cloak, you begin the trek towards the stairs. It wasn’t that far, but even the minor difference in feet was making your heart pick up. It’s in the middle of the day, there’s six people in the house and while you know where everyone is they can easily move about. You might not even know until they already have, as Sans can teleport — you’ve seen him do it before lil shit — and you can only assume Red and Swap can too. 

That’s excluding the other side of the house, which consisted of an energetic blueberry, a constantly on the go guardsman known for puzzles...and Edge. Edge who has lived in a world of danger and the need to be on constant guard burned into his mind.   
Red and Edge are your biggest threats. Granted, all six cannot find out about you — but you had no delusions that if it was Red or Edge that found you first it would end terribly. 

You stick close to the wall, moving as quick as you could while weighed down by the hoodie. Reaching the stairs, you pull as much of it as you can close to the edge, and push it as hard as you can. You watch the fabric fall exactly one step down, and sigh. That’s not gonna work. You take a minute to pull it back up to the top, and look around for an answer. You have the stairs, obviously, and the railing at your disposal. Stairs didn’t work out so hot, so it’s time to try the railing. 

You drag the hoodie over and shove it through the open railing. It falls and makes a light plop noise as it hits the ground. Well, that worked! One hoodie down, four more to go. Then you could move on to Red’s room, and finally Sans’s.   
This was going pretty good so far! Better yet, nobody came to look at the noise so this’ll go smoothly. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Red’s room is a nightmare. How someone has gotten it like this already after only a few days is legitimately terrifying. You see empty mustard bottles, empty mustard bottles as far as the eye can see. You knew Sans had a thing for ketchup but holy **shit** this was something else. This was a whole other galaxy. 

You notice, while searching for dirty clothes underneath mustard bottles, that where Sans has all sorts of things on space and time sciences, Red had different interests. A few books he’s collected, which you glance over quickly, seem more mechanical based and dealing with vehicles. You can only assume it’s for that dumb machine downstairs, and puff out your cheeks a little in a pout. He shouldn’t worry about getting books for work, why not get something he actually enjoys? Sure...maybe Red is a car guy. You’ve seen a couple of those kinds of guys, the ones who can recognize a car just by the engine roar. 

It’s too loud for you, personally. Which sucks since the smell of burning gasoline was actually nice. It’s funny really, you’re a fairy but the scents you love are all so different from the stereotype. No flowers or light scents for you, no. You had to have burning gasoline, of car fumes making you dream of long road trips...maybe to the beach or city...the smell of thunder in the air and lightning brushing your wings. That freedom of just being in the air, hovering, taking it all in deeper and deeper until your heart feels like it can burst from all the _life_ humans can project into their own society…

You rub at your eyes and blink hard. No point dwelling on it. You’d be back to normal soon, and then you can continue your life of chasing happy smells and truly living. No more back pain, no more cowering at every noise, no looking over your shoulder for a darkened silhouette.

No more him. Never again. 

You drop Red’s dirty laundry on top of Swap’s, enjoying the therapeutic action of letting go. The noise it makes is oddly satisfying.  
You drop a couple of empty mustard bottles, too. Nobody said you can’t work on two things at once. While getting the bottles, though, you notice a small book — more like a packet really — on plant life. Specifically flowers. 

You smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sans’s room is a familiar comfort to you. You’ve been in and out of it a few times before, always while he is out and about. There was one time you ended up in here when he was asleep, but it was long ago. Back when you first “moved in” with them, you’d actually gone ahead and bunked with Sans for the night. It felt soothing to sleep with another in the room like you’d always done with Frisk, but after Sans had noticed a small misplacement of stuff you had caused one night, you had chickened out and went to sleep in a guest room. 

You might have to move again, too. With Swap now sleeping in there, you’ll have to find an empty room to safely navigate. Surely there was still an open room left, even just an old dusty one with a nice solid dresser would work. Nothing fancy, you could swipe goods yourself to dress it up if you wanted. That would probably be a little too self indulgent though, so you’ll avoid that. 

You already knew where he kept his dirty clothes. For all his attempts to be a lazy bones, he had his own system. Controlled chaos, you would call it. Luckily, you see Sans only has a shirt to add to the pile at the bottom of the stairs. It’s a pun shirt Frisk had gotten him, all black with bone lettering that said “Bad to the Bone” and you thought it was great. 

You’d helped pick it out. Not that it matters. But you did.

You’re dragging the shirt through the hall when you feel the points on your ears perk up, and it registers that oh SHIT someone is coming this way!  
Thinking quick, you duck underneath the clothing and curl up tight. If you’re lucky, they’ll pass right on by without thinking of the pun shirt in the middle of the hallway. It’s at the edge anyways, who’s going to grab it?

“Ugh! Seems this world’s version of my brother has just as many bad habits…” The shirt is picked up, and to avoid detection you hold on tight. You know that voice, and STARS you swear you two aren’t going to get along at all. 

Hello, Edge.   
You watch the floor pass you by quickly, and soon recognize the image of the stairs. He stops there, and you hear him chuckle before —

**FUCK**!

Both the shirt and _you_ are dropped from the second floor onto the pile you had been making. That moment of weightlessness is nostalgic, but when you hit the pile you can’t hide a small groan. It’s not loud enough to hear, but you still hate that you’d made the noise. Sure, Fae could totally take a lot before really being hurt but that doesn’t mean you SHOULD go jumping floors!  
You listen as Edge walks down the stairs, but then he walks away. Guess he figured the pile was just Papyrus’s doing, and decided to leave it for him. 

Looks like SOMEONE is getting pranked again! Later, though, once you get this done. Poking your head out, you look around and see you are once again alone. Damn, Edge knows how to move silently. Another thing to note for your survival. You get back to work, do your best to bundle everything up together, and start tugging it down a hall towards the laundry room. You’ll pick up the mustard bottles in a minute. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You dump the dirty clothes into the washing machine, and smile. There! It was all set up for Paps, to the best of your tiny abilities. You _were_ going to turn everything on and whatnot, but it turns out the laundry detergent was in fact heavier than it seemed. With that plan now abandoned, you moved on to do what trash you could. Passing through the living room, dashing behind furniture wielding a plastic shopping bag to put trash in, it felt...exciting! Other than that incident with Edge, you actually haven’t seen anyone else. Not even Paps, but at least that made you doing all this easier. 

The bag trailing behind you, mostly filled with empty candy wrappers — because let’s face it, one always gets forgotten behind something — and an occasionally large dust bunny that could prove to be a threat towards you. How dust bunnies could get so big, you were honestly confused about. It’s towards the end of your little adventure when you see it. It’s by the TV, as usual, and you consider the object for a minute. It’s there out of tradition...but oh, how happy Paps would be if you took care of it...sure, he would never know it was YOU but that’s alright, that’s honestly the whole plan of today. To help take some stress off his boney shoulders, and that’s it. No need for recognition. 

You walk over, shoulders straight and stance tense.   
You pick up the sock. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s late in the afternoon, and you’re munching on sprinkles Rocky shared with you earlier. It’s a little stale, but the energy you’d get from it makes up for the taste. Blue was cooking in the kitchen, what he was making you weren’t really sure. You’ve seen him dig out tortillas, edible glitter, and what you are convinced is grilled pineapple slices.   
Where on EARTH did he get grilled pineapple slices?! You’re pretty sure nobody here owns a grill! What does one do with grilled pineapple slices and edible glitter anyways??

Wait...wait wait wait...edible glitter, while it is indeed edible, is still committing the horrid crime of being glitter. Easy to get everywhere, hard to get rid of, and so brightly colored…  
That it would stand out against **any** darkly colored clothes. Especially black armor worn by a skeleton who needs to learn not to grab stuff that isn’t his and throw it over rails. 

You’d have to act fast, chances are with his heart of gold Papyrus would soon come back from training — which thanks to YOUR hard work he got to go to! You’re so ~~happy for him~~ proud of yourself for not getting caught. It was like a stealth mission, and you totally nailed it. Now, you needed to complete this one. Once Paps got home, he’d totally want to help Blue out and you’d be unable to avoid the both of them at once. 

You scale up the counter, yanking yourself up to sit behind your old friend the coffeemaker. Tiny baggy in hand, you wait for Blue to be turned away from the glitter before bolting over and looking for your color choices. Green, purple...and bright pink. 

Gee, which one would you pick?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lunch is a quiet affair. Blue had made these burrito things, which the meat and glitter made the oddest combo you’ve seen since Papyrus made dessert spaghetti. Personally though you thought it was clever putting ice cream through the noodle maker, but to each their own.   
Sans, Swap, and Red had emerged from the depths of the basement to join Blue and Papyrus for lunch, but Edge was currently still in his room. The thought didn’t stop you from laughing, you had a good idea what was bothering him. 

“Gee, Blue. This has got to be your best burritos yet.” Swap compliments, and it makes his brother grin wide. He’s so happy he doesn’t even notice the odd looks Red is shooting the glitter — and honestly _same dude_.   
It’s so calm, that the air physically FEELS charged when Edge walks in carrying one of his boots. You lean closer from your vantage point to watch the chaos about to unfold. 

Edge walks up to the table, and very slowly turns over his boot so the opening is facing the table. Bright, pink glitter pours out. And out. And out. It’s utter silence as for five minutes **straight** Edge pours out pink glitter from his shoe. You think you see stars in Sans and Swap’s eyes as this happens. After the pile is formed, he puts the boot down and crosses his arms. 

“I do not know who here is doing this. I do not know why...but rest assured. When I catch who has done this, and I _will_ catch you, even Hell itself will seem like a VACATION compared to my wrath.” With that, he snatches up the boot and stalks out. It’s only after he leaves that not only you, but most of the table laugh at this. 

“Damn, bro! Didn’t know you had it in you!” Swap gives Blue a half hug around the shoulders, to Blue’s utter confusion. He even shakes his head a bit. 

“Papy, I didn’t do it. I actually thought you did.” Now the table seems completely confused, as everyone seems to realize that Blue did not use the glitter against Edge, “After the tiny footprint prank, I thought for sure you had to be the one doing all these pranks.”

...the W H A T prank?!

“Blue...what are you talking about?” Sans speaks up now, and all eyelights are on Blue. It’s Papyrus that answers, though. 

“Oh, he’s right! We saw those little footprints on the countertop made from glitter and it was the cutest thing. I didn’t even mind you pranking us after helping with laundry today.”

“...Papyrus. We were in the basement all day. None of us helped with laundry.” Sans eye sockets are completely dark, and you decide at this moment to abandon your sprinkles to dart into the walls. 

Maybe you should stay in the walls for a few days...or weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to comment if you like the fic so far!


	4. Quiet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear these characters are writing the story now 😂 I’m just HERE and they have stolen the reigns.

It’s been a week. A whole week since you last left the safety of the walls. You’ve kept to yourself, moved nothing and did no pranks. You would snatch food left out in the night, often when one of the night owls — Red or Sans, surprisingly Swap slept heavily enough through most nights — makes a sandwich or something while working. It wasn’t the most nutritious for you, but it didn’t matter. 

You haven’t even swiped sprinkles from Rocky lately. You hope he hasn’t been missing your company. It’s been hard lately to get out and about. You had finally moved out of Swap’s room, which you honestly hate the most about this. It had been so comfortable there, but in times of trial what mattered was survival not comfort. You’ve also been feeling pains in your back more often, which you could guess was from two things. It was either your wings growing back — you hoped — or your body screaming at you to get food regularly again. 

Tonight, though. You had a plan for tonight. The skeletons have talked about being out of the house all NIGHT. You were giddy. You honestly felt so excited to be the only one in the house for the night, it was like a cliché movie. Parents leave their kid at home, and typically a huge party ensures. Good thing for the guys you didn’t have anyone to invite over, or even wanted a party. 

You just wanted a nice night to stretch out and eat. That can’t be that hard to manage. 

...You honestly needed to stop telling yourself that. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first part of the night had gone perfectly smooth. The skeletons left, and you had even waited almost a whole twenty minutes before immediately making a break for the kitchen. It was at this point, you couldn’t help but feel very, very suspicious. 

Berries had been left out. Not just any kind, no. It was bright, bleeding raspberries. They looked so fresh too, all cheery against the stainless white of the countertop. It was so fucking obvious you wanted to lose your shit. 

Of course these were left out. Of course. They had left something out just to see what would happen, and likely thought that at best they would get something. At worst, nothing and they’d go back to things being everyday normal. That sucks to be them, because even with that being the easiest food, EVER, you wouldn’t go for it. One, that would confirm you’re here and for obvious reasons that was a real bad idea. Two…

Ok. You honestly hated raspberries. You weren’t even sure why, but you just did. Blueberries, blackberries, even those little red berries on holly bushes you’re pretty sure you shouldn’t eat tasted better to you than raspberries. It’d be super easy to pass this up. 

So you move on to your trek to the fridge. No one would think to keep track of what’s in there, especially with how often someone ends up doing groceries. Seriously, you haven’t been keeping that close track but you swear they’ve been buying food like...maybe every three days.   
You don’t blame them though. Six mouths to feed is a lot, especially with three chefs in the house that like to experiment. 

It takes some decent parkour skills and serious muscle to get the fridge door open, it swinging out while you cling to the handle before climbing in. You had an idea of what to swipe, mainly moving to grab small bags of sugar, anything pushed close to the back — which wasn’t much dammit — and...you think that’s a bag of peanuts back there. 

You hurry to get all that out, and then proceed to shove the fridge door shut. Afterwards, you haul your...well, haul back to your new hiding place. It’s what you could call a storage room, mainly old bips and bops left in there just in case they needed to be used again. You actually found it funny the room was even in use, Papyrus was so tidy it seemed redundant. Maybe it used to be an old office, or the bros had plans for it but they fell through?

Either way, there were a lot of hiding places in there, and even a large window with a long ledge you can sleep on. Normally sleeping in the open scared the shit out of you, but that room felt...safe. Like someone was watching out for you. 

You’re probably just imagining things. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You felt pretty bad about this, but let it never be said the Great Papyrus did not have good taste in clothes.   
And action figures. Action figures with really nice clothes. You knew how to make ok clothes out of scraps of cloth and whatnot, but there’s something great about getting actual clothes made for someone of your size. 

It’s like going to the mall, which — granted — you experienced through an oversized pocket in one of Frisk’s hoodies but it still counted since you picked stuff out! Like right now, as you raided the action figures clothing closet and checked each thing in the mirror. You’re pretty impressed with the amount of detail Paps puts into his things, a lot of these shirts actually fit you real well!

You end up grabbing two shirts, one pants that you _think_ was supposed to be jeans, and a pair of durable boots. These babies would help you scale everywhere, and hopefully keep any more incidents like that glitter accident from happening. After all, more noticeable to you if you got something in your shoes. 

Besides, you’ll only be borrowing this stuff. You’ll take great care of these clothes, and before you leave you’ll be sure to return them to…  
You lean over quickly and try to remember which figure you took the stuff from. It’s the one with the bow and arrow set, so you think it’s Anastasia.   
You’ll return them to Anastasia in GREAT condition. Nothing less for Papyrus!

~~You shouldn’t be feeling like this. You need to keep distance. You can’t afford to get caught.~~

You’re heading back towards your hideout, going over a swift mental checklist as you walk the quiet halls. Food stocks are secure, will be for a while as long as you ration. Water is easy to get from leaking pipes and sinks, even then you can always store it from outside. You now had better gear than your old fairy outfit, which as much as you loved it you only wore because Frisk picked it out. Kid gave you some green dress and slippers with white pom poms on them, then seemed so happy when you put it on. You think it might have been a prank…  
Point is, you think you are set for a while! It’ll help while you wait out the storm and —

**Crack!**  
You’re crying when you drop to your knees. You’re in the middle of the hall, no shelter, and your back is on _fire_. You can’t stop crying, it feels like you just got a knife stuck into you and it’s slowly carving away. All you can do is curl tighter and tighter, shaking and sobbing, waiting it out. 

You aren’t sure how long it lasts. Could be a minute. Could be an hour. Could be all day. It all feels the same under the fog of the pain. You knew growing your wings back would hurt — obviously you were regrowing your LIMBS — but stars this is almost way too much. You’re willing to bet this is the second stage though, which means one step closer. 

The first step was always a bit more peaceful, proper stretching and the usual healthy bullshit you’d see on gym commercials to keep the pain away. This time was used by Fae to find a safe place, or the safest they can get to, to hide away and regrow their wings. These places needed to be safe since wings were a major source of magic for Fae, and you’re damn near defenseless without them. 

The second step...huge black, jagged looking scars appear where the new wings will sprout. The bones start to shift and prepare for the, erm, violent emergence of the wings. It was painful, it was messy and would make a Fae think twice before losing their wings, high pain tolerance or not. It was a requirement to go through. No amount of stretching would help now, and worse those pain flare ups would happen at random. 

One step closer to getting out of dodge, but also now walking on a thinner wire.   
When the pain finally ebbs away, you’re left lying on the floor. Shaking from the effort from before, and weakening all the while. Whatever strength and energy you’ve had from before is sapped now. You struggle to get up, then hobble away from your room to begin heading towards the dining room. 

You’ll be sure to apologize to Rocky for being gone so long before and after stealing his lunch. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You must make a convincing argument, because you get away not only with rainbow sprinkles, but some chocolate ones as well. You can’t tell if it’s because of how well Rocky has been raised, or if you honestly look that pitiful.   
You’ll take what you can get, though, and certainly won’t complain. Pity points are still points, and you want to win with the high score. 

It’s late now, you’ve managed to recover from that episode in the hall, and you’re still proud of everything you got done with today. You’re hiding away under the staircase when you hear everyone get home, and the loud cluster of voices honestly makes you smile. It’s...it’s sweet. Maybe you do miss people. Maybe. Very slightly. Hell, you’re in a good enough mood you won’t punk Edge tonight. The other couple of times was revenge anyways, no harm truly meant. 

You see Blue and Papyrus immediately make a beeline for the kitchen, and giggle at the frustrated noises that come from there. Guess they left out the raspberries, sorry boys! Better luck...no, no. You aren’t going to complete that. This isn’t a fun game. The fact that they legit left food out to see what would happen should be concerning. 

You’re smiling, and you hate it. Even if it warms your heart. 

You watch as Sans and Swap poke into the kitchen to check on their brothers, but then head downstairs for what you can guess will be a late night. Awesome, you can totally steal leftovers when they inevitably snack later on. What’s confusing, is when Red and Edge part from both groups and instead head up into...Edge’s room? What the hell? From what you’ve seen Edge is a deeply private person, and even his own brother isn’t often invited in. 

You get up and decide to work your way into the now closed off room. It’s a couple of twists and turns in the walls, but you make it. You hadn’t gotten a good look at his room before, while dumping glitter into his boots — and his armor, and his pillows, and his drawers… — but now you can see all of it, and… _holy shit_. 

You were so totally right. Mister tough and proud, is such a **softie**. There’s handmade drawings stuck to the walls, and you see old mythology books hidden under the bed. Sure, it still matches his signature red and black color scheme, but it’s so sweet to see he’s so much more. You look up, and choke back a laugh. Looks like someone else really likes the stars, too. He even painted in a few constellations. You can make out Orion, the hunter, and you think you see half of Canis Major. You’re cheeks hurt from smiling, but it’s a nice pain. You’ll take it anyday. 

Red and Edge are huddled over...something. You can’t make it out that well, they’re both blocking it perfectly. You can hear sharp muttering, and Red...Red keeps asking Edge if he’s sure about something. Pieces snapping together, and at one point you see some batteries get installed into a port. Clearly, whatever they are putting together takes some serious work and can’t be cheap. You’re excited to explore it the minute they look away. 

Papyrus yells from downstairs, and you think it’s about dinner. Either way it catches the Fell bros attention and they both leave the project there on the floor. 

“Damn. Guess we can finish hookin’ it up later, yeah Boss? You, uh, you still sure ya want it in here…?” Red is sweating, genuinely looking nervous. Your curiosity is boiling over. 

“Of course Sans. I’ve clearly caught our...friend’s attention, so no doubt they’ll find it in here. We can fix the rest later. Besides…” Edge gives the grin of a hunter, and you have no doubt this Papyrus made it into the Royal Guard from willpower and fighting prowess. He looks like a **hunter** , “I think they’ll like it better than wherever they are currently residing.”

They head on out, you hiding underneath a chair in the shadows. Once they leave, you poke your head out, eager to see what it was they’re working so hard on.   
You can feel your nerves turn into itty, bitty icicles. You think you prefer that firey pain from before to this cold dread. Oh, Stars. You’re dead. You are so, so, so dead. 

It’s a **fucking** fairy house. A hand crafted, three story fairy house. You think the porch light — _there’s a porch light_ — is on, and you think it might be wired up. That’s right, the batteries. It’s not even fully hooked up yet if the brothers are to be believed, and it looks like the nicest fairy house you’ve ever seen in your whole life. 

You are soooo dead. So so so so dead.

_**The Fell brothers know.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please do remember to comment!


	5. Choices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having choice is a beautiful thing, it meant what you decide can change your entire destiny, that you are truly in control of your own fate...
> 
> And then sometimes destiny doesn’t give a damn what you want, you’re doing it her way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao y’all are gonna kill me after this one 😂 have fun!!!

Three times. Three _fucking_ times today your back has had that painful, just dipped in lava — or acid whatever you decided first — feeling just show up only to go away. It wouldn’t even last that long, not in real world time but stars it felt like torture. You’d know, and even then by a tiny baby chance you think you’d pick that over what you are currently dealing with. 

You’ve been managing rations for a while, and so far it’s worked over this period of...you think you officially went into survival mode a month ago? Time has both been flying by at a surprising rate, and you swear you can feel each tick of the passing clock in your very bones. 

You haven’t had much to do, letting the time go by as you hid away in storage. You would occasionally head out to gather up more water or just to see what was going down in the house. To your dismay, you have also noticed an increase in events that **absolutely** had to deal with you. 

First was Red’s sudden increase in leaving food...everywhere. You have literally witnessed this man outright open a bag of chips only to walk away from it. He opened it and then left the room with such purpose you honestly thought he remembered some important task, except when you peeked out a bit more you could see him watching from a hidden spot. You stay away from the kitchen now, clearly that’s a hot spot. 

Next up was what you now called room checks. This was how you knew the hunt was truly on. At random intervals, either Edge or Red would suddenly bust into a room and just...rip into it. You had gone back to Swap’s room to grab something soft — you know there’s a fuzzy blanket in the bottom left drawer _Damn it you wanted the soFT BLANKET_ — before having to duck and hide when the door slammed open. At first you had figured it was Swap himself, frustrated at the small progress him and Sans was making, but nope. It had been Edge, who had promptly checked the entire room over under the guise of cleaning.  
It was luck alone that he did not find you, and luck alone that he walked out before the subsequent back attack. 

Finally, what was now occurring along all of this was what you could consider the worst. The saddest part was it hadn’t even been either of the Fell brothers who had created this mess, but Sans himself. He had confronted them about the strange behavior, which you had been surprised when Edge had lied — you could smell it — and said it was a pest problem. He could have easily said what he figured out, that you were in the house, but he covered it up.  
Which would be what led to your current problem. 

A wooden rat trap. Not even one of the nice kinds, no. One of the brutal ones that snapped down and didn’t let go. You got lucky this time, having sat down when the pain started instead of stumbling or trying to hide. If you had taken that gamble, you could have set it off and gotten stuck. At least the bigger, cleaner ones can be easily avoided and planned around. 

One of these little shits could easily hurt you. Bad. You could afford that right now. If your body felt it had to focus on something else for survival — like a head wound or something broken — it would freeze what progress was made on your wings and shift all magic towards the new damage. You can’t do that now, you don’t want any more delays. 

Walking away from the trap, you keep going downstairs. You’re pretty sure you just heard the door open, and since all six of the skeletons were home already you weren’t sure who came over. You look back at the trap…

Things couldn’t get worse. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You’ve never been this comfortable in your time here. It was a beautiful brief break from the hell of hiding away all the time. The soft hoodie pocket was nice and warm, and you could just relax under the cover of a cell phone.  
Frisk was such a welcome presence after all this nonsense. 

You had nearly cried from joy at seeing your friend walk into the house, and had sprinted off to meet up with them later, when they were done saying hello to their “Dunkles”. Surprise, surprise the living incarnation of determination and sunshine had made friends with every skeleton here. Even the Fells. You weren’t all that shocked, honestly. 

You had heard them charge up the stairs, under some excuse of another, before you watched them enter the room. It took all of two minutes before you jumped into their hoodie pocket — it was some special hoodie originally made to carry around one’s cat, you loved it — and had the cell set up in a way that you could duck beneath it if need be. 

Now, it was off into the world with Frisk, on a wonderful day. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming…  
**Red was tagging along for reasons unknown**. It was going to be the two of you, heading around town as Frisk snuck you good and you gave them commentary on what was happening, but right before you two left he had mentioned needing something, using the machine as a coverup. You had to hold your breath for a minute, that lie had stunk like hot lemon cider. 

So here you three were, heading towards your best bet; Grillby’s. Even in the safety of a pocket you could feel that comforting heat and smell greasy goodness. You think your stomach just rumbled, and you can’t help but pout. Red was observant, he’d notice first thing if Frisk snuck you fries. With noticing came questioning, and that would lead to nothing good. 

By the shift in posture, and the fact that you were no longer moving, you can only guess that Frisk was seated at the bar with Red. It didn’t matter who took them down here, Frisk always sat next to whomever brought them right at the bar. You liked to make a game of counting how many times Grillby game over, using the sudden flashes of heat he brought as a way to count. 

It’s the flashes of heat, you think, that starts to mess with you. You had been focusing on what Red and Frisk where discussing — school, you think, that starts soon for the kiddo. You’ll have to congratulate them, it’s pretty big — when you notice the words we’re starting to blend together. You could hear ringing of some kind, and that heat was so intense on your —

_Shit not again!_

You’re clenching your teeth, near biting your tongue just to keep any noise in. You know your shaking, but can’t bring yourself to care. You hated this, you hated this so much it hurts!  
Well, actually, that’s not a false statement. You hated it, and these pain flashes certainly hurt. Your only relief was that, with the intensity and frequency they were occurring on the rise, it meant you would soon have wings again. 

“So, kiddo, you’ve been here a lot longer than Boss and I have...you ever notice anythin’ weird about the house?” Taking deep breaths and gathering your willpower, you go back to listening in on these two. At least this time, the pain didn’t last that long. 

“No, not really. Do you mean that false back in the attic, though? I thought it was cool!” Frisk sounds so happy, but you stifle a laugh. There’s no false back, but it was a nice deflection of the question. 

“Nah, Nah. ‘M talking...things disappearing on ya. Hearing things in the night. Lotta flowers blooming or berries. Holly berries in particular, noticed that was a trend…” Red explains, and it takes a moment for things to line up. Since Fae often loved the outdoors, their magic — when healthy — would subconsciously make flowers bloom longer. Even in winter, and the most common victim of this was holly berries. Poisonous for others, perfect for you. 

You can feel Frisk hesitate, and you swallow hard. It wouldn’t be hard, not at all, for the kid to tell him. You wouldn’t blame them, they’re a kid of course they don’t want to keep a secret. Especially one this big. Stars, what were you thinking, asking this from a kid to keep silent about you? Has it gone that far, are you that desperate? You need to fix this, maybe...maybe it’s time to—

“Nope. Never seen anything like that around the house.” Frisk’s answer just hammers in the guilt. This kid was lying for you, all over a fear you had that...that was about one guy. A guy who probably thinks you’re dead and won’t ever come after you again.  
This has to stop.  
You have to stop. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Frisk was going to get picked up by Toriel. That’s where you were now, the kid sitting in front of your hiding space and you perched up so you could talk face to face. You were quiet the whole walk back, even when Red left midway to do “stuff” and you knew it was worrying the kid.  
You had a lot to think about. To figure out what to say. 

“So...I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve called you here.” You pause and enjoy Frisk’s laughter, “Alrighty kid, let’s face the music together. Me hiding can’t continue forever. So...I’m gonna say hi to the skeletons. I’m-I’m coming out from hiding.” You have to laugh at how excited Frisk looks, and you hold up a hand in the universal settle down motion. 

“Ok, ok look. It’s not...it’s not going to be easy. I doubt I’ll do it today, or hell this week for that matter but...I will. I’ve just gotta figure out when. I don’t think Edge likes me much, and I’m sure my whole living in the walls might freak the others out, so...maybe once I get my wings fully back I’ll come out. Ok?” It seemed like a fair plan. Wings meant wayyy more magic than you are currently running on so you could teleport and create illusions, or whatever you needed to do to distract while wings **period** meant being able to fly away if threatened. You had an escape route, and the safety net that would make you feel secure enough to introduce yourself to the roomies. 

“Yeah, yeah but I get to introduce you to Mom right??” Of course that’s what Frisk asks, and you nod with a mild sigh. Truth be told, you wanted to bail right after saying thanks to the skeles but...if it made Frisk happy…

“Sure kiddo. Now go on, we both know her royal highness is probably waiting for you.” You wave goodbye as the kid gets up and takes off running. They seem so excited, and just through wanting you to meet Goat Mom officially.  
Your heart feels warm, and...maybe you shouldn’t leave after all. Sure, you likely won’t stay here with the boys out of respect for their privacy and not wanting to freak them out — again, you’ve been living here for how long and they had no idea?? That’d freak anybody out — but maybe you could crash with Frisk again. It wouldn’t be for long, you could make a house out in a garden...or, hell, maybe with a good enough argument you could convince Red and Edge to let you keep that cute fairy house. 

As you decide to head downstairs, you feel that damn flash of heat and roll your eyes. Here you go again...all you had to do was sit down and wait it—  
It hits you like a train. Similar to the first incident, you can’t even focus on one train of thought as a wave of pain after pain rolls over you. You keep walking, you keep stumbling just trying to go _somewhere_ your brain feels scrambled where were you going again wasn’t there something you had to do why don’t you remember why don’t you remember why moving was a bad idea again…?

**_S N A P_**

You should have just sat down before. Pain in your back, and now a fiery hate echoes from your leg. You...you stepped into one of the rat traps. That had to be it. Your vision was blurring, that ringing noise back again stronger, but you didn’t need to see it to know you must have tripped a rat trap, and if the pain is correct your leg was stuck in it. This...this was terrible. You...you can’t focus at all...was this what passing out felt like for real…?  
At least things can’t get any worse than getting stuck in a rat...was that footsteps? You look up. 

Last thing you remember is two red lights watching you before the world blurs into a darkened mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...good news! MC should be getting her wings back in a few chapters! Bad news...ehe
> 
> I think y’all can already GUESS THAT ONE


	6. Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For once, a proper introduction for MC!
> 
> And a POV shift, just this once. 😈

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got this finished, and while I told myself I’d wait...I crave comments too much. Enjoy my weak willed nature, everyone! :D

_”...I found her...Boss, Boss she’s…”_

_”No, no careful! Fuck how did a mouse trap do this?! Here, hand me the gauze, I’ll…”_

_”Shit she’s real outta it...you don’t think she’s…”_

_”Not at all. The Fair Folk are survivors. She’s just sleeping, give her some time…”_

_”Easy, lil’ lady...we got ya...yer safe here…”_

The world fades back into focus, the pieces coming together in a sickening swirl of color and noise. Even the nicer feelings, like how comfortable the bed you were on felt, just felt like too much at the moment. Everything too bright, everything too loud, you duck your head under close to your chest and curl up tight. Even the strain you feel on your back is actually welcomed, it’s a pain you recognize and can use to ground yourself.  
After a few minutes, your senses get their shit together and you feel better. You struggle to sit up, but once you do the cause of all this makes itself apparent. 

Your leg is set in a splint of sorts, crafted from two popsicle sticks — a bit broken for size — and some heavy duty string. It’s well made, and even you can see the craftsmanship and time that must have gone into it.  
Nevermind that it would be useless eventually, maybe a day or two. Healing was normally a quick affair for Fae, even with wing loss counting as a factor. 

The bigger concern though...who made it? You start going over potential suspects — Papyrus is good at making these sorts of things, and you’ve seen Blue be pretty caring towards animals so he’s a good suspect too. Sans, while clever, would not count as he wouldn’t have left you alone. He would want answers, and Swap is the same in that regard.  
While thinking, you take a good look around the room and...no. No. No way in **hell**!

You’re in Edge’s room. You’re on Edge’s bed. You didn’t pass out in this room you passed out in the hall how the HELL did you get in his room it’s impossible you—!  
A strangled cry leaves you, and you scramble to try and stand. You had to get out. You had to run, escape, get literally anywhere other than here. You pull it together, and on one shaky leg, another hurting with each step, you limp over towards the cliff side that was the bed. 

This would be a _painful_ fall, but you really had no other choice. Staying was in no way an option, and only more pain awaited that path. Better to hurt for a minute and be free, then to rest for longer and face the flames.  
You knew what a pissed off person could do to someone your size. Even with it so long ago you could still feel fingers wrapping around twitching wings and  
**p u l l i n g**. 

You jump. 

And you’re correct, the landing sucks and proceeds to feel like getting a brick to the stomach but you’ll accept it. You fight the hurt, get up, and keep moving. You had to get under the dresser, the one closest to the door. There’s a hole underneath it in the wall, and from there you can travel downwards into the basement. Basement has a small window you can scale the wall, prop that open and you are out of there.  
Freedom is so close….!

The door swings open, and you’re halfway there.  
You and Edge stare each other down like it’s an old fashion western. 

Shit. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You fucking _book it_. Each step feels like hellfire but you don’t even care, you keep moving and stumbling, whatever it takes to get OUT OF THAT ROOM. 

“Shit RED GET IN HERE!” Edge calls down the hall, before springing down on you. Boney hands cover you, cupped and effectively cutting off the escape plan. With a shriek, you start kicking at his fingers with your good leg — he has to let go eventually right?! You jolt, and everything is moving as his hands go from over you to under you. 

“Boss?! Whattaya yelling for?!” You can hear Red enter the room, and your blood runs cold when you recognize the sound of a door locking. You were now locked in with the two more violent skeletons in the group, and you had no doubt that hole escape was no longer an option.  
You’re shaking. You don’t feel cold, not really, but every part of you is twitching. You’re in pain, you are so tired, and now you are caught…  
You can feel wetness dripping down your cheeks, and you wipe away what you can assume is tears fast. You won’t let them see you cry. 

You’re not going down without a damn fight. 

“She must have gotten spooked when she woke up...here, open it up won’t you? I’ll set her down, we’ll have to make certain the brace is ok…” You hear Edge’s voice but don’t focus on it — instead you focus on that heavy feeling deep inside. It’s a heat that beats alongside your heart, growing stronger the more you focus on the pain and fear you felt. Hotter and hotter, you let it bleed out from your chest into your hands.  
Most Fae don’t have offensive magic. Defensive abilities, sure. Simple stuff like illusions and shields. Maybe the occasional spell to help out with nature, but that’s more passive. 

Your time in the dark gave you something a little more surprising for the unwitting attacker. It hurt to draw your magic away from healing your wings, but one well placed attack could get him to drop you, enough to get out.  
You force the heat out, and watch as little shots of magic strike against the palms surrounding you. A grunt of pain, and…  
Nothing. Maybe a little heavier breathing but...it barely hurt him at all. 

“Boss? Ya good?” Was that all you could do?

“Fine, Sans. Someone’s clearly upset is all.” Was that all you could try?

“Must be worse than we thought. Put ‘er in.” Were you really this powerless, after all this?

Fresh air hits you as you’re set down, and you...can’t feel anything. Logically, you can see you’ve been set down on a circular bed that’s, interestingly, small enough for you but you...really can’t feel it. You can’t feel anything, and a small part of your mind wants to laugh at the sight you must make. Staring off into the distance, the world collapsing around you…

“Shit Boss I think we broke her. Fuck, can ya hear us Tink?”

… _What did that asshole just call you?_

“Only Frisk calls me that, bonehead!” You yell up at Red, but cover your mouth once you realize what you did. Dammint, they might have made this quick if they thought you wouldn’t react. Strangely, the smiles they both have is...ones of relief. Uhh, excuse you?

“Haha, yell all ya want, better than nothing.” Red is chuckling, but he stands up and walks away — oh, you know where you are! It’s the fairy house they had built, and apparently the roof came off. Easy access, that’s nice...for them. You aren’t sure how to feel. You can’t see where he goes. 

“Now, I do believe we have a few things to discuss, but for the time being you can call us Edge and Red. What would you have us call you?” Edge is being...very polite, but the phrasing catches your attention quickly. You...you were slowly growing more impressed and less terrified. Edge knew his stuff!  
Names were an important part of Fae culture. Way back when your kind liked to mess with humans, the rule of never giving out one’s name was a HUGE one. 

It wasn’t used much anymore, since Fae pulled away from the world and into the wilds, but you had to give credit where credits were due. These brothers knew what they were getting into. Smiling, even a shaky one, you play along. 

“You can call me...Plum. What is it you want to discuss?” You get straight to the point, settling on the edge of the bed. It felt nice, properly sitting on something. Still, you could feel your own agitated nerves keeping your magic up and on the move — heat traveling up and down your back. Playing nice can be a survival strategy, but you wouldn’t give in. 

Edge’s eyelights seem to glow brighter, look growing sharper. It’s one of a hunter, and you force yourself not to flinch. 

“Who hurt you?”

...You had to be dead. Dead and dreaming. There’s no way…

“W-Well, it’s a long story. One that is...rather unshareable under circumstances.” It wasn’t a lie, you really didn’t want to share it. The idea of talking about it, especially while trying to come down from the previous...episode you’ve had for the better part of being awake felt dangerous. You didn’t want to show these guys any weakness.  
Even with a broken leg. 

You don’t give him the chance for another question though. You had to ask away.  
“So, what’s the plan here? You boys clearly knew about me to make this...should I consider myself a prisoner?” You aren’t ready for the look of disgust that comes across Edge’s face, or the choked off curse from Red. 

“No! Never! To trap a lady of the fair folk, a suicidal fool’s mission!” It was certainly dramatic, but you suppose that’s just how he rolls, “Not at all, Plum. My brother and I...we noticed that it would be rather difficult for you to survive with new members in the house. Stars only know how long you’ve been here before our arrival.” Edge explains, and Red finally returns to set something down near you. You pull away a bit, but recover enough for it to look like a smooth transition. 

You miss the look the brothers shoot each other while checking out what Red had. It’s a...cup of water. Smelling it doesn’t prove any tampering, and there’s no discoloration. 

“...It ain’t drugged, Plum. I promise.” You shoot straight up at that, openly gaping at Red. You could smell the truth, but the fact that he was willing to promise did...more than anything to solidify some trust in these two.  
Sans never promises **anything**. It was a huge deal if he ever did, so to hear that from Red…  
You take a small sip of water, and can’t stop the smile on your face from appearing. It’s sugary, and you can taste a bit of apple in there. You drink it down quickly, practically purring from the pleasure of it. You turn sheepish at the laughter that follows though from your audience of two. 

“No need to hurry, we have more if you want. You...you won’t have to scavenge anymore. We can help you heal, Plum.” Edge’s voice drops a bit, and now even Red looks serious, “We both know the stories of how vulnerable Fae can be without their wings. How long it takes before the wings regrow, the signs. You won’t have to worry about survival, you just focus on getting better. Besides, that leg has to be troubling.”

It’s...it’s a great offer. You almost hate how perfect it is. You want to refuse just from that, and the fact that a debt doesn’t suit you well. You had told Frisk you would come out of hiding though...and it would be really, really nice to finally relax after all this time…  
Sighing, you nod, and try to ignore how excited they both look. 

“Alright, you boys got me. I’ll stick around. It’s a deal.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Plum had fallen asleep after the deal was made. Red could tell the Fae was beat — and not just in the sense of sleeping. The pieces were starting to add up, and the ugly picture being formed was one he wanted to _burn_. 

“...You saw how quickly she moved. Ignoring pain, ignoring the safety of a home...brother, something is very wrong here…” Boss was looking at him, and Red could agree with that much.  
Fair Folk shouldn’t be that afraid of Monsters. They shouldn’t be scavenging in a home that had others living in it, they shouldn’t be able to lash out with magic…  
They shouldn’t be wingless. 

“Ey, Boss…” Red could feel his left eye burning, “How about we keep an EYE on our counterparts fer a while?”

Someone did this to Plum. Likely someone in this house — Fae didn’t switch homes, not without good reason.  
His brother nods, a quiet agreement, and it sets them both off chuckling. 

They were gonna have a good time...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please do remember to comment, and if you like this fic consider checking out my other Undertale fics. I want to say they’re all rather nice, and I cherish the support deeply!


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